Top-heavy China Army Faces Cuts

March 06, 1985|By Joseph A. Reaves, Chicago Tribune.

PEKING — China`s People`s Liberation Army, the largest army in the world, will retire 47,000 veteran officers by next year and up to 80,000 in the next few years as part of a drive to become a more streamlined and disciplined fighting force, the official New China News Agency said Tuesday.

The agency said the wholesale retirements would be in addition to the normal demobilization of officers and men.

It quoted an unnamed official of the Ministry of Civil Affairs as saying that most of the 47,000 to be retired by next year entered the army either during the 1937-45 war with Japan or during the 1946-49 civil war against the Nationalist Chinese.

``According to the official, 70,000 or 80,000 veteran officers of this category are expected to be retired from the army in the next few years,`` the agency said.

Western diplomats viewed the announcement as a victory for Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in his long-running campaign to modernize the 4 million-strong People`s Liberation Army, which even China considers an obsolete military giant.

Deng first called on the army to streamline its forces in 1980. As recently as six weeks ago, one of China`s top military leaders, Gen. Yang Shangkun, urged the army to set a ``courageous`` example for Communist Party members across the nation by purging outdated officers.

The Communist Party is in the midst of a three-year ``rectification drive`` aimed at weeding out unreliable, corrupt or incompetent members and replacing them with younger and more qualified people.

The drive involves all party members, civilian and military, but Deng`s long-term push to streamline the army goes deeper.

He was embarrassed by the army`s disappointing and costly performance in a brief invasion of Vietnam in 1979 and was angered a year later when military leaders complained in writing that they were losing the power and prestige they enjoyed under Deng`s predecessor, Mao Tse-tung.

Deng, a former soldier, had the support of the army when he came to power in 1977 after Mao`s death. But by 1980 he charged that only one-third of the army`s commanders supported his economic modernization program.

Since then Deng has pushed ahead vigorously with his economic modernization drive while working on several fronts to bring the army more in line with his thinking.

Part of his strategy has been to promote loyal officers and retire older, less resilient ones. The commanders of all but 3 of China`s 11 military regions were changed within a year.

Another Deng tactic has been to placate and strengthen military leaders by trying to get more sophisticated weaponry for them. Senior defense officials have called for more intensive weapons research and have been discussing the purchase of military hardware from abroad, including a likely deal to buy naval weapons and engines from the United States.

But for all his efforts to keep the army happy, Deng has made it clear that modernization of China`s military remains fourth on his list of ``four modernizations,`` behind agriculture, industry and science and technology. He repeatedly has called for the army to work in domestic industry projects, a policy that in the long run not only enhances the economy but also encourages a reduction in the number of soldiers.